Magical Diary: A Horse Hall chronicle
by Theresa Gainsborough
Summary: In a lot of ways going to Iris Academy was just like going to a normal school... If it wasn't for the fact that she was learning how to make potions, cast spells, and had classmates who had wings. Well, okay, it's a bit different from an average school, but still! (Diary format)
1. Chapter 1

Sunday, September 1

Dear Diary,

What a strange school this is, giving their students diaries on their first day in school. Well, I can't really make a good judgement on that, seeing as I've only gone to Muggle kindergarten and university schools. Hey, for all I know giving students diaries on their first day is probably procedure or something.

Well, I probably shouldn't be so surprised. It _is_ a school for witches and wizards after all. Magic is strange enough as it is, and something as mundane as a magical diary probably isn't going to be the strangest thing here that I'll ever come across. To be honest, I think the uniform they've given me to wear is probably the strangest thing so far about this school. I mean, who really wears such long dresses and a cloak these days? Besides people who dress up for going to a Medieval Fair anyway. Not that I really should be complaining, it's a very cute uniform. And it matches my eyes to boot!

Ridiculous school uniform aside, so far my first day in Iris Academy wasn't so bad…

Okay, there was that time that I literally run into a teacher, who gave me 10 demerits for my clumsiness and made some disparaging remarks about my attention span while doing so. Although he didn't look too bad for an old man and had a rather nice British accent and seemed quite refined and learned, he had all the charm of a brick to the head. What a grumpy old man, that Professor Grabiner. I suppose if I had as greasy of a hair as he does I'd be just as grumpy as he is, but there was really no need for him to take it out on innocent new students like me.

But other than that one incident the day is really going my way. I had met my roommates for the rest of the semester, and they seem quite nice. Ellen is a blonde, golden eyed girl who's a bit on the chubby side and seems to be one of those honor student types and a wildseed like me. She's also from the state Virginia, though she doesn't have much of a Southern accent. Virginia is a dark skinned girl with dreadlocks born to a family of witches and wizards, with two older brothers who are also going to Iris Academy. She's a fount of information about the Wizarding community and the school in general, though she's really more into sports than reading unlike Ellen. Ellen plays volleyball apparently; Virginia likes soccer and wants to start a sports club in school.

Virginia's older brother Donald seems like quite the troublemaker, him and his friend Luke. Luke seems a bit clumsy in comparison to Donald though, he actually walked into the door frame! Really, watching him walk was like watching a documentary about deer and watching a newborn calf trying to figure out how to use its legs. He's kind of cute though, in that earnest adorable way that clumsy people tend to be. Her eldest brother William seems more mature than Donald, and he seems like quite the gentleman compared to Donald. …Then again, just about any guy could seem like a gentleman compared to Donald, but still.

Something that really bugs me though…why does everyone have such exotic colouring here? Virginia has dark red hair and eyes, her brother William has purple hair and green eyes, Luke has pine green hair and palatinate purple eyes, heck, and even Ellen has gold eyes for crying out loud! It makes me, with my darker skin, long curly black hair and my aquamarine eyes, (which I was extremely proud of before I came here by the way), seem so dull in comparison. Geez… Maybe magic makes the people who wield them polychromatic or something, because apparently being born in the same family is no guarantee of having the same color eyes or hair. Which makes me wonder…what color hair and eyes do Virginia's parents have? Hmm…

Tomorrow is apparently freshman orientation, and I have to sleep soon otherwise I'm going to end up late for it. Good night diary. I'll make another entry tomorrow.

* _Theresa Gainsborough_


	2. Chapter 2

Monday, September 2

Dear Diary,

It seems there was a reason for giving students diaries on the first day. These diaries are where I make my own schedule according to Professor Potsdam. Not only that, I'm supposed to use this to pencil in my schedule for the rest of the week. Apparently if I pencil it in here my teachers will be able to tell where I'm going to be that day.

Well diary, how do you like knowing that you're going to be so important to my school year?

…Look at me, writing to my diary like it's sentient or something. Sheesh, it's only my second day here and I'm already going loony.

I guess with everything I've seen and heard today, I'm entitled to getting a bit loony. There are fairies, vampires and werewolves here! **FAIRIES!** Honest to God fairies, with the butterfly wings and everything. Good God, and here I thought the diary was strange. The fairy was a lot bigger than Tinker Bell though, that's for sure. And she had pink hair. I kid you not diary; she seriously had hair as pink as cotton candy and even wore a necklace with a pink pendant that matched her hair. The pendant had a pink jewel as big as my eyeball, so she must be rather well off to be able to have afforded it, or for her parents to have afforded it. Either way, she's rich. I should ask her to see if I can buy that necklace myself; the pink would totally set off my eyes.

Also, I'm not too sure whether or not the kid I saw was really a werewolf or not. Honestly, other than his big fluffy tail and dog ears he seemed plenty human to me. When I saw his tail and ears I wanted to squeal and hug him because of his adorableness, it was so cute! Maybe he wasn't a werewolf though; maybe he was just from a family of people who are born with animal ears and tails that are totally _not_ werewolves. I _am_ in a magical community now, this would probably be a good time for me to learn the proper term for the different types of…magical creatures that inhabit this community. I wouldn't want to accidentally insult someone who can turn me into a toad or something equally yucky, especially not in a place like this.

Professor Potsdam is a woman who looks like something straight out of the 60's, like she used to believe in peace, love and smoked weed or something. A rather old granola girl, isn't she? Then again, maybe her type of people is common here, and for all I know she might be an extremely strong witch, otherwise she wouldn't be able to teach now would she? She certainly seemed like she had a lot of knowledge about the 'pentachromatic spelling system', being able to summarize all of them in one sentence and everything. Either way, she's a whole lot nicer than Professor Grabby (as the students of Iris Academy affectionately call Grabiner) is that's for sure. I'm going to see if I can get at least one of her classes in my schedule this week, just so I don't have to look at Grabby's greasy hair every day.

Speaking of which, today I chose to go to Blue Magic, and guess who my teacher was? If you guessed anyone other than Grabiner, you are wrong. He seemed to not only be trying to explain to us what Blue Magic was about, he was also not-so-subtly threatening anyone who would so much as think about messing around in his class with failure.

Ellen really seemed to enjoy the class, strangely enough. She went on about how putting it in theory makes it seem more realistic or something of that sort. She told me that she dreamed of being a witch her entire life and we got into this discussion about what magic means to us, which somehow devolved into a conversation about putting decorations on the ceiling…somehow. I freely admit to the change of subjects being my fault, but Ellen had the brilliant idea of putting illusions in the ceiling using Blue Magic. Other than that single point she was strangely not opinionated about what type of decoration she wants in our room, only pointing out that Virginia should have some say about the subject and not wanting to have paint dripping down or a poster falling on her face while she slept. An aquarium screensaver on the ceiling would be cool though, whenever I learn enough Blue Magic to make such a thing.

It was interesting first day of classes, if nothing else.

* _Theresa Gainsborough_


	3. Chapter 3

Tuesday, September 3

Dear Diary,

I am really starting to get the feeling that Grabiner does not enjoy being a teacher, or at the very least he enjoys scaring his students. Today he had just implied we might lose our fingers if we don't pay attention in class. It seems that Red Magic is a very dangerous magic if mishandled, and might lead to dismemberment. It sounds like a pretty cool subject though, if it wasn't for the teacher's horrible attitude towards teaching this might have been an enjoyable class. Learning how to conjure fire and lightning in the palm of my hand sounds pretty dang cool to me, though I may be a bit biased. Also, a dude with a British accent saying "seductive" is definitely more than enough reason for me to get up this morning. What I wouldn't give for a recorder right now… Or even a camera that allows me to take videos. I would watch that one scene so many times with my hand in my…

*Ahem!* Well, you know…

_Anyway_…

Other than that one class we were off for the day, and I really do wonder, why only one class per day? We're on school grounds for the rest of the year, and we get to choose our classes and we only have to do one class per day? How is this supposed to work? I get that they want to put more control to the students, but really? What school only teaches one class per day?  
…A Wizarding school with only two teachers apparently.  
…An _American_ Wizarding school.

Because Hogwarts was definitely _not_ like Iris Academy.

And I'm not too sure whether I'm happy or sad about that.

* _Theresa Gainsborough_


	4. Chapter 4

Wednesday, September 4

Dear Diary,

Today was my first class with Professor Potsdam, _finally_, and I have to say that she does not disappoint. She is seriously just as hippy as she looks. Treating the body like a plant? Potentially being able to live centuries if you treat your body like a garden? Okay, that last one is probably possible with magic, but that doesn't make her sound any less like a flower child.

Also, apparently learning how to kill plants and other living things take a seriously large amount of magic to learn, never mind doing. Good to know…I guess? That blonde boy who brought it up in class has a rather strange way to thinking, and I have to say I am rather glad I am not rooming with him. Who knows if he decides to practice using Green Magic in such a way on someone, and how likely it might be that he'd try it with his roommates first?

Yeah, I'm keeping an eye out for that kid, if only to know when to run if he tries anything funny.

Seriously, I don't care whether or not it would be rude or anything, if I so much as notice him trying anything with Green magic that may have something to do with trying to force entropy on a living being I am running for the hills.

* _Theresa Gainsborough_


	5. Chapter 5

Thursday, September 5

Dear Diary,

I am happy to say that no, Black Magic does _not_ include zombies. And that yes, I am not learning how to make zombies. Black Magic, like Professor Potsdam mentioned in the orientation, is about physicality, about how to enchant and curse physical items and/or people. It doesn't seem to include killing anyone or making _evil_ curses, and apparently we're supposed to be wearing aprons in class.

I have to tell you, dear diary, that of all the things that I had expected Potsdam to say in Black Magic class, telling us to wear aprons was most definitely _not_ one of them. I think she noticed the confused look on me and the other wildseeds' faces when we came into class today and heard her tell us to put them on.

A girl that looked like a vampire, whose name is apparently Raven fittingly enough, asked if we could use Black Magic to animate a skeleton. What the-?! Is this the sort of thing that's going to be asked every day in class by my classmates?! Really people, what is wrong with you?! Goodness, like the Muggles don't have enough stereotypes about the Magical Community as it is! Questions like these from students in a school would not help matters, that is, if anyone other than us knew. And Professor Potsdam only laughed! Then she gave some examples of how to use Black Magic to make a skeleton move, like enchanting it to chatter its jaw whenever someone comes by like an alarm. At this point, I just…am not even trying to understand these people anymore.

Well, I guess if I get really good with this subject I could learn how to make wands for witches and wizards and get rich like Ollivander.

Or I could make cursed items and sell them to customers that want to curse someone they don't like, like those sketchy people in Knockturn Alley. Whichever makes me richer, I suppose.

As a side note, don't ever try to make potions without wearing an apron, and especially don't try it when you're wearing your good clothes. It's like cooking, except with slimy, gooey things that looked like they came out of a nostril of a giant animal. Sometimes, if you don't follow the instructions to the letters there's a good chance of your concoction blowing up in your face, take my word for it when I say that is not a pleasant experience, at all. I'm going to have to see if there's a Laundromat around here to clean my uniform of slimy gunk, maybe Virginia knows a place.

I am a bit curious about combined techniques that Potsdam had mentioned today though. Bringing something like that up in class without so much as an explanation will only peak my curiosity, so of course it's going to be one of those things that I'll be paying attention to. She says we'll cover that later on in the year, which makes me all the more curious about it. Does that mean that combined techniques are for advanced students?

Either way, I'm just glad that Black Magic isn't what I thought it would be, and that I don't have to learn how to conjure zombies in school. Iris Academy is destroying any stereotypes I've ever had about magic that I had absorbed living with Muggles, and I have to say I'm almost glad it did.

* _Theresa Gainsborough_


	6. Chapter 6

Friday, September 6

Dear Diary,

Gym has never been as interesting as it was today.

Then again, any gym class that allows me to meet cute guys is an interesting class.

The guy had wings too, but his wings were more like demon wings than fairy wings. He had long, shiny purple hair and eyes, with blue skin, and was a complete gentleman. He even kissed my hand, like in those old fashioned movies where women only wore dresses and skirts and guys didn't show their underwear. He introduced himself as Damien, and I have to say that the name fits, even if it's a bit unfortunate for him to have.

He had some rather ominous warnings to give me though, something about losing things. I had never thought there was anything worse than losing my life before today, and if anyone other than Damien had tried to tell me this before today I would have just laughed it off. The look he gave me when he spoke stopped me from laughing at him when he was talking to me about it, but now that I think about it, he was being rather mysterious about it all. He also says that the teachers are not what they seem, and that I should attend at least the first lecture of each class ASAP. He also implied that the school might not be as safe as I had originally thought, and that the teachers may be hiding something from me, though what that can be is beyond me.

Halfway through his talk I had a stray thought that he really seems to like listening to himself talk. Not that I can blame him, his voice is rather nice, but it's not as good to listen to as Professor Grabiner.

He was pretty cute though, for a guy with demon wings.

Speaking of wings, he says that I can buy wings of my own at the mall close to the school. I am so checking that out, to see if he's legit. I mean, who wouldn't want to have wings? I hope there's some big ones with feathers, I really want to look like an angel, that would be pretty cool!

Virginia and I also got into a long conversation about the Salem Witch Trials, about how magical people tend to build forts and stay in one place for as long as they possibly can. She says that there are witches still in Salem, even after all the dark history they had gone through, which would have been surprising if she hadn't told me about the forts and such. Because they don't like moving, there were few European wizards and no African wizards in the colonies, there was almost no other wizards than the Natives, who certainly didn't want to have anything to do with them at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. According to Virginia, the children who were wildseed, and had no one to train them, or control them. The only witches at the time were the children who were pointing fingers at everyone, and they were just as scared as the rest of villagers. Even though she was the one who pointed out that school for Wizards and Witches were made to make sure that such a situation wouldn't arise again, she still didn't seem too happy about going to Iris Academy. I guess knowing about something logically doesn't change your emotions about it, or at least that's the case with Virginia anyway.

There are days that I wonder what it's like for Virginia, living as she does as a born witch, with older siblings and having known about Magic ever since she was born. Maybe I should ask her one of these days, if I really want to find out.

* _Theresa Gainsborough_


	7. Chapter 7

Saturday, September 7

Dear Diary,

Virginia seems to have quite the sweet tooth, if the fact that she can list out the types of candies, cookies and pastries that are sold in the mall just a few miles from the school. Well, it may have something to do with the fact that she's been to the mall before, probably when she and her family visited her older brother here, but it's still strange that she could remember all of types of candies being sold there off hand.

Ellen, on the other hand, is much more worried about the fact that they only give us $5 worth of money every Saturday. She thinks that it would be better if they just give us all the money all at once, though I can't say that I agree. Children our age usually have the same sense of responsibility over money as a…well, a child. It's quite likely that they'd finish off all of the money in a single day, buying superfluous things with it and then will probably leave themselves broke on the same day.

Which I had learned long ago, I might add. I've had a job as a tutor to a few of my classmates in elementary, especially for English, and my fees were cheap enough that they could pay for my services on their own without having to ask their parents for too much money, which I had saved in my bank account that my parents had made for me when I was young. I took out all of the money a week before I left the house to come to Iris Academy, and I guess it was accumulating interest, possibly my parents had put away some money in there without telling me, or some other reason I hadn't thought of because I managed to get $1000 money's worth from my account. You know, in a video game this could be explained away by the player using cheat codes to get free money or weapons or whatever. If I wasn't so sure this is real life I'd be more than a little suspicious about all of this... Nevertheless, it's probably more than enough to tide me over this year, and now that I know about the allowance they give us I'm not too worried about finances for my school year.

I also thought it was rather strange that no one reacted to us and our uniforms (_which, though rather cute, is also quite dated_) when we got to the mall, but I suppose since the students come to the mall every weekend they've gotten used to it. It's amazing how easily people can adapt to strange things in their life.

More out of sheer curiosity than anything else I went to the only magic store in the mall, and I have to say it certainly didn't disappoint. But really, who uses the word accoutrements anymore? It's such an old fashioned word. The store itself was everything I had expected to see in my first day at Iris Academy, candles lit up and swaying in the breeze (_why there was a breeze in a store that typically has it's door closed I'll never know_). There was a person on the counter, but they were reading in the dim lighting (_and how she can even see the print in such horrible lighting was beyond me_) who didn't look like she was interested in pandering to her customers.

The items for sale were exactly what I had expected from a magical store, and there were a few things that I most definitely hadn't expected to see in any type of store at all. There were some glasses, one that promised an easier time reading ancient tomes of lore, another pair that just looked downright strange, and there were even wings! It's just like Damien said! There were some wings that looked kind of like his, and another that looked like fairy wings, like that pink haired girl from the student orientation 5 days ago. I'm a little sad there were no angel wings though, I wanted to pretend being an angel. It's a shame that the wings aren't charmed to allow me to fly, I was so looking forward to flying with my new wings. There were even magic wands for sale, although I have to admit it makes me curious as to what exactly putting a squid on top of a wand is supposed to do… The halo though was absolutely darling! It floated on top of my head and was made of gold and everything! I can't wait to wear it when I get back to my dorm!

My goodness, the amulet was quite expensive, $60 dollars for a shiny trinket like this? It seems I was right when I thought that pink haired girl must be loaded because damn... Well, I suppose since I have the money I can buy it…

I was exhausted when we got back to the dorms that night, and after I had put the bags of all the items I had bought today I literally just flopped down on my bed, ready to sleep the night away. I would have too, if I hadn't remembered about this diary.

Well, I'm beat. Good night, I'll write again tomorrow when I feel awake enough to be able to write legibly.

* _Theresa Gainsborough_


End file.
